Friday, April 15, 2016

Following up on the story of a Halifax elementary school where parents have complained that their children are being mistreated by new refugee children from Syria, I watched Faith Goldy's show last night on www.therebel.media

Goldy said that, once the Chronicle Herald pulled the story from the paper and put in its place an apology to its readers, no other media has approached either the school staff or the parents of children who made the complaints. No follow up from any news outlet in Halifax. Except for The Rebel, which sent Goldy down to cover the story. Her aim was to speak to parents who had made the complaint to the Herald (which they did after being ignored by the school staff) and she was surprised that two parents spoke to her, along with a grandmother, and one of the children who had been manhandled. The number of people who have contacted the Herald about their children being mistreated has now reached four.

You have to have a subscription to The Rebel to see the video, but it is well worth the $8 per month that it costs. If you balk at paying to get the news, remember that CBC is apparently free to us but only because we give them millions of dollars in our taxes every year. All the other news media have advertisers to pay for their broadcasts. The Rebel doesn't have any of those luxuries and can only continue by soliciting paying subscribers. It is less than 27 cents per day, which I think is a small pittance compared to what Ezra Levant and his crew are trying to do, i.e. bring us the news that the other media won't broadcast or publish.

So it turns out that this physical violence is an everyday occurrence at Chebucto Heights School. And, as the young student says, it is only being perpetrated by Syrian boys on Canadian children at the school, and predominantly on girls.

“If our students, our kids did that to these students it’d be a hate crime. It’d be something bad. And now that we’re addressing the problem cause it’s our kids involved, we’re still the bad guy. There’s no win to it. And everyone’s scared to come forward and say something because of what happened with that article."

- Missy, mother of two children who have been hit by Syrian refugee students

The story isn't being covered because it doesn't fit the narrative that we are supposed to believe. According to our federal Liberal government, the only victims here are the refugees. If Canadians happen to suffer from the attitudes of those refugees, they should excuse such behaviour and understand that it is due to the trauma they have undergone.

No one disputes that being a refugee is traumatic, and no one denies that the situation the Syrians have left is horrific. But we cannot ignore what is seen to be happening here which is that they bring with them a different world view, particularly with regards to women. Ignoring the fact that a woman's life is considered half the value of a man's in the Islamic world will not help us here. This is what these children have been taught to believe and this is what is being played out here in their new relationships.

The Rebel's article states that the school was unable to reach the parents of the Syrian children and that they were awaiting translators to come and mediate the discussions they plan to have. The student interviewed said that, in her grade six classroom, her friend does the translating for the teachers. Her friend is a girl who came from Saudi Arabia three years ago and can speak both Arabic and English.

Ignore the story at our peril. Argue that the Chronicle Herald is having a strike at the moment and has had to employ rookie journalists to fill their copy. But Faith Goldy, with the Rebel Media, discovered that the principal of the school would not talk with her, that no other news outlet had been to the school or had contacted those who made the initial complaints, and that her kind of journalism is being labelled right-wing bigotry.

I will side with Goldy and the Rebel. At least, they are willing to cover the news and they have tried to speak with both sides in this story. The refusal of the school board to answer questions and the silence of the Chronicle Herald since they pulled the story speaks volumes about who is covering something up.

In it, he states that the tone of the article in the Chronicle Herald was hurtful and harmful to students, staff and community of Chebucto Heights.

The Halifax Regional School Board has a long history of welcoming students from all over the world. Some families come by choice, some families have the decision made for them. Regardless, when children enrol in our schools they become our students and, like all of our students, they have a right to a safe and supportive environment to learn, grow and succeed.

Do the children of the school who were there before the new children arrived, do they have a right to a safe and supportive environment?

I didn't find the tone of the article to be hurtful; I actually thought the original article was a clear reporting of some incidents at the school that were troubling.

The message from the superintendent sounds like an apology where none is required. And his closing line that we can all begin to handle such problems first by not discriminating, seems to indicate that he has already reached a conclusion about the incidents.

How can we do this? We can start by not stereotyping – a school, a group of people or a community.

In his mind, the recounting of these incidents smacks of discrimination. He says absolutely nothing about the welfare of the children who were bullied by the new kids, who happen to be refugees.

So being non-discriminatory trumps protecting children from violence at school?

Sounds like the reaction recommended is one that will not provoke any further actions by the refugees, behaviour that many communities have adopted in the face of Muslim immigration. Already we are taking this role from the beginning, rather than letting these children and their parents know that violent behaviour of this sort will simply not be tolerated here in Canada.

Bullying is a sensitive subject. So is the integration of newcomers, particularly those who have faced challenges, even trauma, on their way here. Our story was incomplete. More work needs to be done and will be done before the story is republished. We should have done better and we will. - The Chronicle Herald, April 10, 2016

When does a paper apologize for writing a story? Rarely, but it seems in the case of Muslim refugees, immediately. Nor does the paper use the word Muslim in the original story, too cowardly to name the problem.

Sorry, but junior jihad has arrived in Halifax. This will only get worse. And apologies won't curb this problem, but will only enable it as cowardly behaviour always does.

It is terrifying how our media isn't covering it... maybe if we're nice to them, they won't hurt us. I believe this is the defining issue of our time. - Eric Allen Bell

Saturday, April 2, 2016

I found this story incredibly moving. Anja Ringgren Loven, a Danish aid worker in Africa found the boy naked and wandering the streets in Nigeria. This photo was captured by an onlooker as she gave him a sip of water from her water bottle. She then wrapped the little boy in a blanket and took him to the nearest hospital. He was found to be suffering from worms and starvation (obviously) and also requires surgery to correct a urethra problem. I am thinking this was probably why he was abandoned by his parents.

Ms Loven is the founder of African Children's Aid Education and Development Foundation, which she created three years ago to help children that have been labelled as a witch and therefore neglected and even killed by the members of their community.

"Thousands of children are being accused of being witches and we've both seen torture of children, dead children and frightened children', she wrote on Facebook, accompanying images of her feeding the young boy and appealing for donations to help pay for his medical bills.

Ms Loven named the little boy Hope as she wanted to confer some dignity on this waif. I think they are both aptly named, imagine having the last name Loven. The little boy is thriving now after 8 weeks of care and he is now in an orphanage with 35 other children who have become the family that he lost. An amazing story.

Click on the link above to see the amazing photos of this little boy and the woman who rescued him.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Fogo Island came and went, but not before he made a surprise appearance at mass on Easter Sunday.Rev. Anthony Aikins said Trudeau and his family popped in to attend service at Mary Queen of the World Church in Joe Batt's Arm on Sunday.It was a surprising moment for the Roman Catholic priest from Ghana, who has only been in Canada for a few months.After offering up a prayer for the Trudeau family, Aikins said he continued on with his Easter sermon as usual.But before Trudeau left the church after the service, Aikins said the congregation made sure to give Trudeau one final gesture of thanks."As a way of saying thank you, we sang the national anthem."Aikins said it was a visit to remember, and he's already filling in his family back home in Ghana about the big day."I phoned all [the family] I could to tell them that I had the privilege to meet the prime minister of the land," he said.

Four days later Justin Trudeau tweeted this in response to PEI premier's announcement that PEI would be providing abortions in the island in the near future.

A woman’s right to choose is fundamental in Canada. We welcome today’s announcement by PEI Premier MacLauchlan on reproductive services.

That poor priest in Fogo, obviously one of the many African priests brought over by Catholic dioceses to fill our priestly vacuum in so many churches. He was completely hood-winked by this charming poser of a prime minister who takes advantage of his Catholic heritage to win over people.

Justin Trudeau should be banned from receiving Communion in every Catholic church in which he presents himself. It is such a shame that Father Aikins had no idea of the position that Trudeau has on one of the most fundamental positions of the Catholic church, that of standing for the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. Nor will he know that Trudeau will be one of the western leaders who is pushing abortion and contraception on the third world, mistakenly thinking that limiting the population of the poorer nations of the world is be the key to their economic development.

Every Catholic priest in Canada should be informed and informed very explicitly of the stand that Justin Trudeau has taken on the issue of abortion, that he "whips" his Liberal party members so that none can vote pro-life on any issue, and that he will do the same with the upcoming assisted suicide bill in June.

This is not a man to be welcomed as a public figure worthy of tremendous respect. He should be welcomed into churches, yes, but he should also be told that he cannot make a mockery of our faith by posing as a faithful Catholic nor should he be allowed to use the church as his platform for reaching the ordinary people.